“The Bastard”

I, for one, like it when words rebel
when they dispel their stigma
and sting at the nostrils of meaning
noxious and stoic; at large
disruptive, barging in
offensive and acrid to kith and kin
clutching at the straws of cholera
intolerant and insensitive
as nonsense; flaming
rekindled and puerile
relentless
yet fragile